Comedian Eddie Murphy speaks onstage at The First Annual Comedy Awards at Hammerstein Ballroom on March 26, 2011 in New York City. (Getty Images)

(Newser)
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Eddie Murphy is officially hosting the Oscars, and entertainment writers are up in arms panning or defending the choice. Here’s what people are saying:

“It’s hard to get excited,” writes Patrick Goldstein of the LA Times, “because—how do I put this as respectfully as possible?—his last three live-action movies have been embarrassingly schlocky stinkers.” To modern moviegoers, he “feels like a relic from another age.”

“If his jokes are of the Daddy Day Care variety, then we’ll be in for a really long night,” writes Dave Karger of EW. But let’s give him a chance: “Wouldn’t it be great if the Oscars helped return one of our best comedians to his former glory?”

Andy Greenwald of Grantland thinks Murphy could be great, for one reason: “He’s spent the last two decades building up a Klump-sized brick of resentful rage” against the Hollywood machine, and “nobody could make his victims laugh as hard as Eddie Murphy.”

Christopher Rosen of Moviefone on the other hand is one of the few who doesn't want Murphy to rediscover his edginess. “Edgy simply doesn’t work” at the Oscars, he argues, and if Murphy hasn’t let his standup skills “atrophy beyond repair, he’s capable of absolutely wowing audiences."

Maybe if you have to use the F word in every other sentence you best hang it up. That was what Eddie Murphy was known for. I guess it was shocking at the end of the last Ice Age but now most stand up comics use plenty of the F word. See Chelsey Handler live if you need an example.

JackNelsonSteward

Sep 8, 2011 7:13 AM CDT

If I had to chose between Murphy and any of the "critics" on the basis of "Is he funny?" I'd go with Eddie.